249: From War Survivor to Construction Industry Innovator… How René Morkos used AI to Build ALICE Technologies…

249: From War Survivor to Construction Industry Innovator… How René Morkos used AI to Build ALICE Technologies…

Background on René Morkos of ALICE Technologies:

René Morkos, Ph.D. is an inventor, founder, adjunct professor at Stanford University, and CEO of ALICE Technologies. He is the inventor of the world’s first Generative Construction Simulator and Optimizer and obtained his Ph.D. in artificial intelligence applications for construction as a Charles H. Leavell fellow at Stanford University, where he currently serves as an adjunct professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. He is a second-generation civil engineer with over 15 years of experience in construction, divided between industry and academia.

His operational experience includes working as a project manager in Afghanistan, underwater pipeline construction, automation engineering on a $350 million gas refinery expansion project in Abu Dhabi, ERP system implementations, and various Virtual Design and Construction projects. He founded ALICE technologies, the world's first construction optioneering platform, in 2015 and continues its mission of reducing the cost of construction by 25% globally to allow for lower costs of living. Morkos is a researcher and adventurer, continuously exploring and teaching the theoretical boundaries of construction management and the evolution of future industries in order to better the world.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:03] Rene Morkos, 40 years old from San Francisco, founded Alice Technologies, which offers a construction software that provides the fastest and cheapest way to do it.
[2:41] Further explanation and example of what the Alice software does for construction projects.
[5:33] Being in Silicon Valley, Rene realized how to use artificial intelligence in construction.
[7:34] Rene is half Czech and half Lebanese, which became beneficial for him.
[9:01] Austin is curious if Alice can figure out how the great pyramids in Egypt were built.
[11:14] Rene shares the story of his parents in Czech Republic when it was a communist country.
[13:45] During his childhood, Rene was living in Beirut that was under a civil war.
[21:15] Born in Czech Republic but at 3 months old Rene and his parents moved to Beirut. He spent the first five years of his life in a civil war.
[22:37] At 22 years old, Rene was enjoying a comfortable life, but he decided to go to Afghanistan to work.
[26:02] Rene talks about his experience in Afghanistan in the middle of a war zone.
[28:15] The people inside a bar in Afghanistan are armed and sometimes fire their gun at the door. Parties are held with snipers on the roof. Rene shares more stories of his life in Afghanistan.
[31:51] There were three life-and-death situations that Rene was a part of during his stay in Afghanistan. On the third strike, he decided to quit his job and leave the country.
[34:56] While doing his PhD in Stanford, Rene was also working for a company in Amsterdam.
[37:47] Getting the PhD was extremely challenging, which made him want to quit. But then he had this realization that was very powerful and freeing for him.
[40:12] Alice was born because Rene wanted to push his boundaries and explore himself. The idea of Alice started when he was working in Amsterdam.
[47:16] More discussion on the early beginnings of Alice and the idea behind it.
[53:04] Rene believes that there is a lot of stuff that hasn’t been figured out. He also talks about innovation and solving problems.
[57:59] According to Rene, passion will come through persistence. Your passion may not reveal itself at the beginning, but through hard work and persistence, it will manifest.
[1:01:15] Final words of advice from Rene.

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The Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Books? Good to Great by Jim Collins, Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
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Key Point from Our Episode with René Morkos:

“I got a phone call that the boss wanted to see me, so I stopped the car and a hundred meters down the road they blew up 3 soldiers, British guys. An incident with a gun exchange at night in Kabul was, I think, a pretty darn close call. So, yeah, you’ve got to make some decisions and I thought to myself 3 strikes or one year and I got my 3 strikes I think it was 10 months in and so I resigned. I’m good, I need to get the hell out of here.”

Resources Mentioned:

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